Minimum Wage Book One: Focus on the Strange

Three years after Rob Hoffman said “I do,” concluding the original run of Minimum Wage, he finds himself divorcing, back home with mom, trying online dating and transitioning from doing comics for adult magazines to redefining himself as artist on a superhero franchise. Juggling mutant horseshoe crabs, new girlfriends and more, Rob and the gang are back in this collection of the first all-new arc of Bob Fingerman’s slice-of-life series. Featuring tons of bonus material!

Praise for Minimum Wage Book One: Focus on the Strange

Rob Hoffman, protagonist of the original Minimum Wage graphic novel, returns in a new collection that finds him awaiting the finalization of his divorce. He’s living at home with his mother, eking out a living drawing pornographic cartoons, and diving back into the sexual hunting ground that is the NYC bar and club scene. Rob’s misadventures in and out of the sheets with three women—a stoner with body image issues, a married post-menopausal children’s show entertainer, and a superior from his porn industry job—happen in impressively rapid succession, but all are punctuated by the unshakeable memory of his ex-wife, Sylvia. Rob’s world is all-too-identifiable, populated with visually distinct and quirky characters possessing a fleshiness that lends realism to the book’s many couplings. Thanks to Fingerman’s facility as a writer and illustrator, the city lives and breathes as Rob navigates his way through a maelstrom of urban oddity. Fingerman’s previous work was always grounded in candid, realistic examination of the human experience and this tale brings readers more of that, the author’s ongoing evolution and maturation as a graphic novelist evident. A humorous and trenchant comic for grownups that leaves the majority of its contemporaries in the dust. (Oct.) — Publishers Weekly

Featured in New York Magazine’s Approval Matrix (Lowbrow/Brilliant)

“I had no doubt that Minimum Wage would be a triumphant return this week, but I’m still blown away by the quality and craftsmanship. Whether you read the original series or not, you’ll fall right into step with this story. Pick it up and don’t put it down.” — Bleeding Cool

“Fingerman’s book is just one of many stories like this in comics today, but it does stand out in quality and the weight of history. It is a story of a life just like mine or yours or any number of the people you know. Reading this story is the equivalent of walking a mile in another person’s shoes through black and white panels and the comic issues are sure to bring a great many trials and tribulations to Rob and his readers as well as a story that will touch readers in a manner than many non comic fans never expected a comic book to.” — New Jersey News